Hello Beautiful humans.  Here is a new chapter, hope you enjoy it. 

-------------------------------------

Levi’s P.O.V

Hope…

Is it really okay to have hope? It is honestly terrifying. This one thing that's supposed to be good, yet it made my stomach twist with nerves.

I don't usually sing in front of anyone. I wanted to keep it to myself, not because I was nervous or scared. But this hope thing is making me want to sing my lungs out, singing until he can understand what I feel for him.

Do I let myself hope? Or just end it now. Ugh, I hate this, I used to be so preoccupied with schoolwork that I forgot everything else, but now Kayden is all I think about daily.

"So what do you want to get?" Kayden pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I was confused for a bit.

"From McDonald's, I mean. It looked like you were in deep thoughts for a minute there." He clarified.

"Haha, yeah, I just had something on my mind. But, um, I'll have a Big Mac meal, coke and no ice. Thanks."

"No ice? Why?" He asked.

"It makes it watery after it melts. I don't like it." Shifting in my seat to turn a bit towards him. "How about you? What are you ordering?" I smiled at him.

"Well, I will be having a triple cheeseburger, a large meal, and swapping the mustard with mayo." He licked his lips in anticipation for the meal to come.

"Oh, so you hate mustard?" I questioned.

"Yes, I hate mustard. I don't know why they even made it." His body shivered at the mention, and I laughed. He is so cute, sexy, but cute.

"So now that you're feeling more comfortable, how could you hide that you can sing so well from me?" Kayden's hands stretched, falling onto my thigh and squeezing gently. As if to tell me to trust him, it was comforting.

"Um, well, I only do it as a hobby, so I didn't think to mention it. Didn't mean to hide it." I said, my eyes never leaving his hand. I wanted to hold it and feel his fingers wrapping around mine like a warm blanket.

"A hobby? BunBun, you are too good just to leave it as a hobby. But, seriously, you sound absolutely breathtaking. I almost fell in love, haha," He joked, laughing his head and doing that thing I always loved.

I knew it was a joke, but my heart was filled with that thing. The thing I knew would destroy me one day. Yet, it swelled with… hope.

We get to McDonald's and walk into the restaurant to order. We sat at a table, waiting for our number to be called. Kayden paid as he argued it was a payment for my singing. I tried to fight him on it, but it was to no avail.

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Kayden asked.

"I am; I feel like my heart is about to pop out of its place. I know it is a school thing, yet I still want it to be perfect." I placed my hand on my heart for emphasis.

He smiled at me, his hand reaching over the table, squeezing my own."It will be amazing. We did the best we could. Now we just gotta see it through."

"Thank you, Kayden, for everything. You made this experience easier." I put my other hand on his and patted it. The action sent shocks down my spine. Our hands stayed joined for a while as silence overtook us, the outside noise drowned by the rhythm of my heartbeat and shaky breath. Moments later and our number gets called, Kayden gets our food, and we start eating.

After we finished our food, Kayden drove me home. Stopping in our driveway, I turn to him. "Thank you for driving me and for dinner. I had fun." I told him.

"You are welcome. I will see you tomorrow." He smiled, and I turned to open the door, but he stopped me.

"Wait, I forgot something." He said as he leaned closer to me. My breath caught in my lungs, and my heart drummed against my clenching chest as I felt his lips on my cheeks, his warm breath fanning my skin, and goosebumps rising all over my body.

"K-Kayden, wha-" I tried to speak, but nothing came out.

"Good night BunBun. I hope you sleep well." He whispered against my ears before getting back to his seat. I managed a good night back before frantically exiting the car and running inside my house.

I shut the door behind me and leaned against it. What the hell just happened? Kayden kissed me. He kissed my cheek. I squealed in the hallway, not able to contain my happiness.

My parents ran up to me, worried about my weird noises. I assured them I was okay.

"Are you hungry, or did you eat?" My mother asked.

"No, I ate. Thank you. I'm just going to go and rest in my room. I have a big day tomorrow. Good night, I love you guys." I said as I rushed up the stairs. Dropping all my belongings on the floor and then flopping down on the bed.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh," I yelled into my pillow, hugging it tightly. These feelings are getting bigger than I expected. What am I going to do…

Well, there is one thing I could do. But wait, Levi, think this through…

I'm going to regret it, but I need help. Here goes nothing. I took my phone out of my bag and opened my messages. Levi, be prepared for a lifetime of teasing.

The unholy group:

Me

Hey guys, I need your help with something. Can we voice chat?

Sent

Lexi:

Yeah, sure, I'm free.

Received

Leo:

I'm free too.

Received

My idiot:

This better be important. I was about to have phone sex with my man.

Received

Leo kicked My idiot out of the group.

Lexi:

You're the best, Leo.

Received

Me:

Now I need to bleach my eyes.

Sent.

Leo added My idiot to the group.

My idiot:

Asshole. What the hell did you do that for?

Received.

Me:

Moving on, since everyone is free, I’ll make a group call on WhatsApp.

Sent.

My Idiot:

Ew, WhatsApp, Levi babe, you have got to get in this century and get an iPhone. It is far more superior, and you know it.

Received.

Lexi:

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Jace on this one, Le.

Received.

Ignoring them idiots, I start the call. It rings for a couple of seconds before they begin to join in one by one.

“Sup bitches,” Leo greeted.

“Seriously, Leo, do you say anything else when you greet someone? It’s like your default." Alex squinted.

"Well, it seems like your default is annoying. Guess we can't help how we are, huh?" Leo retorted. I laughed, Leo is a savage, and I live for it. Then, however, Alex gave us a look, making me halt my reaction.

"Ahm, anyway, I gathered you here, guys, because I have something to tell you and need your help." Shifting on my bed nervously, I see them all looking at me through the screen. All the attention is making me nervous.

"Here goes nothing. I like Kayden. There I said it." I felt a weight lifting off my shoulders as the words escaped my mouth. My eyes closed, scared of their reaction, avoiding making any eye contact.

"We know." All of them spoke at the same time.

"I know I should've t-, wait what? You knew?" I was surprised by their reaction.

"Babe, let's be honest here. You are not the most subtle person. Anyone could see it from a mile away. But you and your secretive, sneaky looks are not fooling anyone." Jace said while the other two nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah, Lee, how you act around him is very obvious. It's like you are a whole different person being all giggly and shit." Alex added.

"Sweetie, you're not as slick as you think you are." Leo joined.

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing. Why didn't you guys say anything? You left me to look like an absolute idiot." I hid my face with one hand.

"Well, we didn't want to pressure you to say something you didn't want. Plus, seeing you trying to be sneaky about things was hilarious." Leo laughed.

"I know it was adorable, the way he blushed every time Kayden walked by and waved at him, and then he'd pretend to get something out of his bag, so we don't see," Jace added.

God, I call for any high power to let the floor open and swallow me whole. I have great friends… wait.

"Wait, wait, wait. If you guys noticed it, does that mean Kayden also knows?" I asked, horrified by what the answer might be.

"Well, I mean, if you acted the way you did in front of him, I'd say yeah, probably," Alex answered.

"Though from what Amari told me, Kayden can sometimes be oblivious, so hopefully, he didn't." Jace smiled at me comfortingly but did nothing to soothe the raging emotions bubbling inside.

"This is the worst, and here I was going to ask you guys about what his actions meant. Now I know that he's just teasing me." I flopped down on the bed, hoping it would swallow me into the darkness and make me forget all of this.

"You don't know that. Tell us what he did, and we'll go from there, okay?" Said, Leo.

Jace nodded, then said, "yeah, just tell us, and we'll figure it out. Don't be so rash to judge."

I told them about everything that happened between Kayden and me since the time we met at the cafe, and ended with the dinner we had today as well as the car incident.

"Wow, you hide all of this from us? We may have underestimated you, Gray." Leo teased, smirking.

"Well? What do you guys think?" I questioned, ignoring Leo's remark. He pouted, puffing his cheeks, which made Alex smile.

“Well??” I asked again since no one seemed to pay attention to me.

"I think his actions are a bit suspicious. You don't kiss someone you're not interested in on the cheeks and be this touchy-feely for no reason." Leo answered, making me smile.

"That's not necessarily true. If you remember, when I went and asked Amari about the girl that Kayden was with, and he said they're just naturally touchy like that, it could be the same situation here." Jace intervened.

My smile fell, and all my hopes and dreams came crashing down.

"He's right. We all saw how touchy they were. Even Levi almost blew a fuse," Alex's smirk came onto the screen, and I wanted nothing more than to smack it away.

"Okay, maybe, but can you be like this with a guy? No matter how close you are. Just the thought of kissing Lexi on the cheeks makes me shiver." Leo added, and Alex just flipped him off.

"You'd be lucky to kiss me bitch." He replied, which started banter between them. I sat down, listening to them back and forth.

"For the love of all that's gay, get a fucking room," Jace yelled, interrupting them. Both of them gave Jace a disgusted look but stayed quiet nonetheless.

"Levi, sweetie, why don't you talk to him about it? If not now, then after tomorrow is done. Instead of dragging things out, you need to ask him and keep speculating about what everything he does means. And before you say anything, I know it's hard, but is it harder than what you're going through right now? Think about it, okay?" Jace said.

"Okay, I'll think about it. Thanks, guys, for your help. I'll go to sleep now. Good night." I waved at them through the screen before hanging up.

Let's go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I got up to do my night routine, washing up and brushing my teeth. I came out of the bathroom to hear my phone ringing.

Did they forget something? I picked up the phone without looking.

"Did you idiots forget something?" I asked.

"Um, no?" A nervous chuckle came from the speaker, which made me freeze. I looked at my phone to see Kayden's name displayed on the screen.

Shit!

"Kayden! Hi, sorry, I was talking to my friends not long ago, so I thought it was them. But, um, did you need something?" I said, fumbling with my phone, almost dropping it.

“No, I just thought that maybe you were having trouble sleeping, and I wanted to check on you. Do you want to chat for a bit before going to bed?” this made me smile. He is so considerate. How can one man be so handsome, kind, and so damn adorable?

“Yes, I would love that.”

I got in bed, pulling the blanket over my body and keeping the phone close to my ear. We stay and talk for what feels like hours. Kayden keeps making me laugh, and now my cheeks hurt from all the smiling. We talked for so long that I dozed off with his voice lulling me to sleep. 

--------------------------------

Like and comment your thoughts, and I will see you all in the next one. 

<3 Izzy <3